ESXi hosts out of sync on a vDS after migration/upgrade

Products

• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

In vCenter > Networking > vDS > Summary, you see the warning: 

"The vSphere Distributed Switch configuration on some hosts differed from that of the vCenter Server."
 
ESXi log File Path: /var/run/log/

In hostd.log, you see "file not accessible" messages ("skip saving dvport" is not important by itself): 

warning hostd[2100489] [Originator@6876 sub=Hostsvc.NetworkProvider opID=########-15c1 user=vpxuser] Skip saving dvport ######### to /vmfs/volumes/#####-########-####-##########/.dvsData/## ## ## ## ## 8a 56 69-1a c0 56 2e 2c 7a e8 e0/401: file not accessible

 

This entries can appear if the host's proxy copy looses synchronization with the vCenter.

Some VM's may lose connectivity after being migrated from a host with a cswitch (6.6) proxy vDS to a host with an etherswitch (6.5 and below) proxy vDS.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server

Cause

This scenario can happen if there is a pending vDS upgrade that cannot be completed due to the out of sync dvPorts.

Although Distributed Switches are a component within vCenter Server, most of the switch's underlying functionality is handled at the ESX/ESXi host level. As such, relevant vDS configuration information is stored locally on the host as a proxy copy and are periodically synchronized with vCenter Server.
If network connectivity is interrupted between the vCenter Server and one or more hosts, a synchronization interval may be missed resulting in some hosts becoming out of sync. This type of interruption can occur during vCenter Service restarts, vCenter Server reboots, after an upgrade, as well as ESX/ESXi host reboots or network maintenance. This message can also occur if the host is taken out of a vCenter Server while still attached to a vDS, then brought in to a new vCenter Server. Even if the vDS on the new vCenter Server is the same or similar to the vDS on the previous vCenter, the new vCenter Server will not recognize the host's proxy copy of the vDS.

Resolution

Please file a Support Request and mention this article.

Upload the log bundle of vCenter and the ESXi

Additional Information

If the logs does not show "file not accessible", please see ESXi hosts showing out of sync with distributed switch.

In some cases, this issue will be recovered by vSphere itself.